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Health care facilities that take workers comp cases linked to meningitis outbreak: CDC

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Health care facilities that take workers comp cases linked to meningitis outbreak: CDC

Several health care facilities that treat workers compensation claimants are on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list of facilities that received a compounded medication linked to a meningitis outbreak.

Eight people have died and 105 others have been stricken by a fungal meningitis across nine states, according to the CDC, which has joined with the Food and Drug Administration to investigate cases among patients that received potentially contaminated epidural steroid injections.

Several of those patients suffered strokes believed to have resulted from their infection, the CDC said. But not all patients who received the medicine will become sick.

New England Compounding Pharmacy Inc., which does business as New England Compounding Center, announced recently that, in cooperation with the ongoing FDA and CDC investigation, it was recalling products compounded and distributed from its facility in Framingham, Mass.

“This action is being taken out of an abundance of caution due to the potential risk of contamination,” the company said.

The CDC said in a statement that at this point, there is not enough evidence to determine the original source of the outbreak.

“However there is a link to an injectable steroid medication,” the CDC said. “The lots of medication that were given to patients have been recalled by the manufacturer.”

Health care facilities across several states received the recalled methylprednisolone acetate from New England Compounding Center, the CDC said.

Those states include California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas and West Virginia.

A list of health care facilities that received lots of the recalled medication is available on the CDC website. Several of those facilities say on their websites that in addition to other patients, they also treat workers comp claimants or accept workers comp insurance.